Helen Grant’s book Silent Saturday is the first in a new series called the Forbidden Spaces Trilogy. A young adult thriller, this is narrated mainly by Veerle de Keyser who is the main protagonist. Set in Flanders, the plot is about a serial killer named De Jager who is also known as the hunter, who preys on woman in the Flanders area. The connection between the serial killer and Veerle is that she and Kris Verstraeten are both in a group called the Koekoeken a group of young people that break into buildings for the thrill of it. This is where they cross paths with De jager during one of these break-ins of an old building.
Also Kris and Veerle have a connection from when they were small, as they both witnessed a crime, a murder, but one that Veerle does not remember at the moment.
So there is a lot going on already in this novel and it’s clever the way it all intertwines.
Also Veerle’s relationship with her mother Claudine is not in a good place, her mother who is psychologically unstable, has a smothering obsession with Veerle, is manipulative and we see how Veerle tries to escape this smothering relationship, but also at the same time there is a part of her that feels sorry for her mother. The book finishes on a cliff-hanger and we are left waiting for the second one with great anticipation, well written with sympathy for the characters.
Jun 04